Old Flames
by misslovesonepiece73
Summary: When Zoro reconnects with an old friend that just so happens to be a girl, things get a little out of hand. With three siblings with supernatural abilities (NOT derived from Devil's Fruits) and curses on their heads, pesky ghosts, and romance, the Straw Hats' lives have been turned upside-down. And then, there's the hellish demon that's after Zoro. Man, are they lucky?
1. Chapter 1

**Quick author's note: Thanks for reading this story! I really appreciate it! Please leave your opinions on the story in reviews! (P.S. This is set before they meet Robin, so I'm sorry if you were expecting her to be in here. =/ I've got nothing against her, I just really suck at writing her.)**

As the Straw Hats walked down the unfamiliar streets of Songbird Island, they heard sounds of running, laughing, and most of all singing. Kids played in the streets without a care in the world.

"Well," Nami said, looking up and down the streets, "They don't seem bothered by pirates at all." Usopp nodded in agreement and marveled at their bravery.

"Luffy and Zoro's wanted posters are on that wall plain as day, but they don't seemed worried at all!" Chopper pointed out.

They came to up to an alley where they stopped, hearing a voice. "Wake UP!" the voice whined, "You've been asleep for, like, half an hour!" They looked into the alley only to be greeted with the sight of two young women. One with mid back length lightly curled green hair. She was sitting crisscrossed, leaning up against the wall. She had a sword sheath strapped to one hip, the other propped over her shoulder, leaning against the wall. She wore plain white tee-shirt with sleeves that went to her elbows, and her pants went two inches below her knees and were slightly ripped on the ends. She wore black sneakers, along with a light green haramaki, though hers wasn't quite as wide as Zoro's. The other girl had shoulder length, messy dark brown hair and wore a stained red tee-shirt and plain denim shorts. The green-haired girl dared to open one eye and looked around. The other girl saw this and jumped up to her feet.

"You're awake!" she cheered, an enormous grin spreading across her face. The green-haired girl cursed under her breath and stood up, having been discovered.  
As she brushed the dirt off her pants, she continued to look around. Her eyes slowed at the Straw Hats and stopped in the middle of them. She stood up straight and blinked as if she didn't believe her eyes. "Z-Zoro?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Zoro." she said, "You're back."

"Yeah..." Zoro rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "back." They were now 5 feet apart. She was just about to say something when...

"Marines, they're back! Run for your lives!" Someone yelled from outside the alley.

"I'm Lucy" The dark black haired girl said, ignoring the screams. She elbowed the other girl who said,

"Ow! Oh, I'm Zoey."

"Should we run?" Usopp asked, worried.

"No, that's just Utopia, the town liar." Zoey said, rolling her eyes."You guys hungry?" she asked suddenly. This was a mistake, because Luffy, of course, is always hungry.

"Yeah!" he and Lucy cheered in unison.

"Follow me, then."she said, turning around.

"Sure, that's a good idea." a new voice said mockingly. Zoey froze and narrowed her eyes.

"What do you want, Stacey", she snarled. She turned to a blonde girl with hair that fell to her shoulder blades. She wore a blue long sleeved shirt and black skirt with black high-heeled shoes. She was smoking a cigarette.

"To make sure you don't get them lost, Moss-head" she growled. All of the Straw Hats, excluding Zoro and Sanji, had to try not to laugh at how similar this was to one of the said two men's fights. The blond pushed past Zoey and said, "I'm Stacey, and if you're hungry, follow me. I won't get you lost."

"Your house is right around the corner! How in the world would I get lost?!" Zoey yelled, grasping the hilt of one of the swords strapped to her left hip.

"You'd probably walk right past it." Stacey retorted.

"THAT ONLY HAPPENED ONE TIME!" Nami, Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy were trying hard not to laugh at the deja-vu they were experiencing during this fight. Sanji was busy ogling at the three girls in the wide alleyway and Zoro was staring at the green-haired girl like she'd sprouted a second head. The Lucy girl walked closer to them.

"Hey, if we go now, we could get to the house faster than them, and we may be able to sneak some foo-"

"DON'T YOU DARE, LUCY!" The blond haired girl spun around suddenly, glaring at Lucy, and leaving Zoey to continue yelling insults at her. Lucy just looked down in disappointment.

"Let's just go. Like Moss-for-brains over there said, my house is right around the corner. Follow me." Stacey said, pointing to the entrance of the alley in which the Straw Hats had come.

A few minutes later they were in her house. "So you live here alone?" Sanji asked hopefully. "Nope. I live here with Utopia and Lucy. We're roommates." Stacey said.

"Oh." he said, disappointedly. Stacey was chopping vegetables for a salad. Lucy tried sneaking some food before it was ready, but all she got was a bruised shin.

"Wait, or you don't eat at all." Stacy said, as if scolding a child. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door followed by a BANG!


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm BAAACK! Here I am, back with another installment of my fanfiction! =D Enjoy! Or don't. Your choice.**

Stacey ran to answer the door. She was soon followed by everyone else in the kitchen. A smile spread over her face as she exclaimed happily,

"Skippy! Zippy! Come in!" She walked back into the kitchen followed by two men. "What brings you here, Skippy?" The tall man that answered was wearing tennis shoes and a long overcoat. He had black hair that was trimmed neat and short.

"Just checking on Zoey." He said nonchalantly. The other man had long, orange hair and wore dark jeans and light green tee shirt, an unzipped black jacket draped over his shoulders. His feet were covered by black boots.

"Who are they?" He asked, eyes sweeping over the new arrivals.

"Oh, um, who are you?" Stacey asked, realizing she didn't know, either. Lucy stood up.

"This is Usopp, Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Zoro."

Skippy's eyes widened when she said Zoro, but his expression returned to a neutral one as he looked at his watch, then up at Zoey and said "We'd better be going. Shina's waiting, and you know how she gets when she's mad."

"Yeah. What do I care?" Zoey asked, rolling her eyes. Stacey dropped her knife, Lucy nearly fell of her chair, and Skippy raised his eyebrows.

"Are you insane, stupid, or brave?" Lucy asked incredulously. Zoey rolled her eyes again and shook her head.

"Are you _all _afraid of her?"

"Yes..." A new voice said from behind Skippy. Out from behind him stepped a girl with unruly curly black hair, and a satchel slung across her shoulder. She wore a pair brownish shorts and a beige tee shirt. Her feet were covered by a pair of brown shoes.

"You're afraid of _everything_, Utopia." Zoey said, rolling her eyes for the third time in five minutes.

"I am NOT! The great Utopia is not afraid of anyone or anything!" She proclaimed proudly.

"Really?" Zoey raised her eyebrows, then leaned toward the curly-haired girl and yelled "BOO!" Utopia screamed and ran to hide in the hallway.

"Yup. Bravest person alive." Zoey said sarcastically.

"Food's ready!" Stacey called. Utopia raced back into the room, and everyone scrambled to get a seat. Stacey scowled at the sight of everyone tripping over each other. "If you're a guy, stand up. NOW" They followed her order mostly because they were told they wouldn't eat until they did. After all of the girls were seated, she okay-ed the men to sit, too. The Zippy man sat eagerly along with everyone else, but Skippy prepared to leave. That is, until he was ushered into a seat by Stacey, and forgot what he was doing as a steaming plate of delicious food was sat in front of him.

* * *

After an amazing dinner they went to town to restock on supplies and to show the Straw Hats around. Suddenly, as they walked down what looked to be Main Street, the air acquired a sharp chill and clouds covered the sun as an eerie fog blanketed the ground. People migrated to the sidewalks. Skippy froze in mid-step, and Stacey, Lucy, and Utopia stopped, as well. Zoey looked at them exasperatedly and the Straw Hats looked around for the cause of the strange happenings. Suddenly, loud snarling and growling cut through the eerie silence.

Two wolves appeared out of the shifting wall of fog in front of them, followed by a woman. A tall, tan woman with pitch black hair that fell past her knees. The most frightening feature of the woman, however, were her eyes. They were raven black, and resembled dark, empty caves. She wore leather pants that were so tight the Straw Hats wondered how she even moved. On her feet were tall, high-heeled boots with heels so pointy, they probably poked holes in the concrete when she walked. A snug-fitting leather jacket adorned her torso and she had a black bandanna tied around her head and long, black leather gloves on. Her aura was dark and mysterious.

She didn't seem bothered by the wolves at all. In fact, she stepped forward and petted them on the back of their heads. She looked around without moving her head, her cavernous eyes swiveling in their sockets. They suddenly stopped, staring at Zoro. "Get him." She commanded. She didn't speak loudly, but everyone heard. She let go of the wolves, who surged forward, snapping and growling.

Zoey jumped in front of Zoro, her arms spread wide. One wolf clamped it's jaws on her arm, the other biting down on her shin. She let out a pained scream.

**Do any of my OC's remind you of any of the Strawhats? If you can figure out who's like who, put it in reviews! Also, comments or suggestions are welcome! Reviews make me happier than cookies! =P**


	4. Chapter 4

Zoey twisted and turned to try and get out of wolves' grip. As soon as the shock wore off, Skippy ran to her to try to help pry the beasts off. This, however, only resulted in the visious animals attacking him. They jumped off Zoey and onto him, dragging him to the ground with a cry of pain. "NO!" Zoey screamed, reaching for one of her many swords. As she made a move to behead the creatures, the woman dressed in black thrust out her hand and said calmly, "freeze." Zoey was instantly coated in thick ice, only her eyes able to swivel in their sockets. All of the Strawhats stared at Zoey in open-mouthed shock. Zippy gaped at her frozen form, jaw dropped. The woman walked over to Skippy and pulled the wolves off. She threw them off to the side. "Stupid mutts. You'd think they could get past a stupid girl." She muttered unhappily as the animals sulked back to their original places.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" Luffy asked. She looked at him with a sly smile and said ,

"Why don't you ask Demon Boy over there?" Her cavernous eyes locked on Zoro, who took a sudden interest in his boots. When he didn't answer, she sighed. "I am Shina." She proclaimed.

"So, _you're_ the one everyone's afraid of?" He asked. Her proud smile was answer enough. "And that meas you're the one I get to fight!" He bent his knees, taking up his normal fighting stance. She just waved her hand dismissively, as if shooing a fly.

"I'd fight you, but I'm not really in the murdering mood today. Take a raincheck?" He just blinked in disbelief and stood up straighter.

"Uhm, sure." His sentence was punctuated by a kick to the head from Sanji. As the blonde-haired boy yelled at him for threatening a lady, the woman turned to Skippy. She held her hand out to him, but instead of turning to ice, the unconscious man took on a slight yellow glow. To the Strawhats' disbelief, the mangled and profusely bleeding wounds on his body started to heal, fresh, new skin flowing into them. In about 30 seconds, Skippy was as good as new, though he was still unconscious.

Her gaze then shifted to Zoey. As soon as her empty black eyes fell on her, the hunk of ice began to melt away, causing Zoey to fall, wet and shivering, and Zoro to reach out quickly to catch her. "Thanks," she said scarcastically to Shina, her bright green eyes staring at her.

"Would you rather be frozen? Because that can be arranged." Shina said snarkily, as Zoey rolled her eyes. Just then, Zoey took on the same yellowish glow that Skippy had, and her wounds, too, began to heal. When all of the wounds were closed up, she stood from Zoro's grasp, and looked down at her blood-covered boots.

"Is this a good enough reason to never wear these again?" Shina looked at her and shook her head. She then looked at Zoro angrily,

"What are you doing back here?" She demanded, and Zoro looked up, panic running wild in his eyes.

"I..." he started. He swallowed hard and looked around as if he would find the answer in the not-so-crowded street. Seeing the panic in his eyes, Zoey took a tiny step forward.

"He came to see me."


	5. Chapter 5

Shina raised her eyebrows and casually slid off her right glove. Then, suddenly, her hand shot out and wrapped itself around Zoey's arm, and she cried out in pain. Shina pulled Zoey closer to her and said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "Oh, really? Well, I hope you have a nice reunion." She then released Zoey, who stumbled back into Zoro, holding her arm. Shina then turned on her heel and motioned for her wolves to come to her side. "Enjoy it while it lasts, because it's not going to be long for Lover Boy." She turned to face them and she and her wolves were engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, she, and the wolves, were gone. Zoro helped Zoey stand up, and looked at the hand-shaped burn on her arm.

Later, they were all sitting back at Stacey's house, Zoey's arm healed, Skippy laying unconscious on the couch, and everyone demanding an explanation from Zoey and Zoro. They were refusing to fully explain, just saying that it was complicated and that they had "just met when they were younger". Stacey, however, demanded to know what Shina had meant by "Lover Boy". Zoro blushed, which was a rare sight.

"Dude! Are you _BLUSHING?_" Luffy asked, trying hard not to laugh. Lucy slapped him upside the back of his head.

"Let him tell the story, you idiot!" She yelled. Just then, there was a frantic knock at the door. Zoro sighed in relief, and Zoey yelled

"I'LL GET IT!" Before sprinting to the door and throwing it open. A very out-of-breath young woman was standing at the door, hands on her knees, panting.

"Zoey... thank goodness! Shina... is on another... rampage... terrorizing the village..." Zoey and Zoro both shot out the door at this revelation. Luffy sprinted after them, calling to everyone, including Skippy, who was woken up by all the commotion.

"Come on! We have to help them!" He yelled as he sprinted out the door, followed by everyone else. A very confused and half-asleep Skippy took up the rear. They arrived in the battle-zone the village had become. Shina had some man cornered against a wall and was staring intently at him. The man was yelling in pain and after about 20 seconds, dropped dead in front of her.

"You've gone to killing innocent people? Your rampages were a lot easier to handle when you just threw things!" Zoro yelled from behind her, sword pulled slightly out of it's sheath in Zoro's normal pre-fight fashion. Shina turned around quickly.

"That was before YOU ruined my life, you moss-headed scum!" The insult seemed to mean something to Zoro, because he faltered, but quickly recovered.

"Shina, stop this! You don't need to kill innocent people as your stress-relief method!" Zoey yelled.

"If you want to hurt someone, hurt me." Zoro surprised everyone. Even Shina raised her eyebrows. "I'm the one who caused this." Shina's slightly surprised expression quickly morphed into a smug grin.

"Gladly." She said, and a puff of smoke covered where she had stood. She appeared a milli-second later, inches from Zoro, who took a surprised step back. "Don't mind if I do." She then brought her boot up and slammed it into Zoro's chest, before he could even begin to prepare himself. He heard a crack and pain exploded in his ribs. He fell backwards, black spots dancing in his vision. Shina disappeared in a cloud of smoke yet again, but Zoro could hardly see. He heard Zoey yell his name, but it sounded like he was hearing it through water. His last conscious thought before the blackness consumed him was 'Those boots are definitely steel-toed.'


	6. Chapter 6

_"Shina, stop! It didn't mean anything! Please, stop!" Shina didn't listen, but continued to throw things around the room. "You good-for-nothing, moss-headed scum! I loved you, and THIS is how you repay me?!" She screamed, hurling a coffee mug at his head, a piece of which cut his temple. He took no notice in his desperation to calm her down. "Please, Shina! Let me explain! Stop! Please!" _

"Zoro! Wake up, man!" Luffy was shaking him gently by the shoulder.

"What do you want, kid?" Zoro said irritably and sleepily. He glanced around the empty living room he was in. "Where is everyone?"

"They went back to help clean up the town. Chopper made me stay in case you woke up. You've been asleep forever. Then again, she did kick you pretty hard." That was when Zoro registered the immense pain in his chest. He groaned and closed his eyes.

"Chopper said he thinks you have some cracked ribs. He told me to have you drink this." The black-haired boy held out a cup of grayish-brown liquid, which Zoro downed in one gulp. The areas of his chest that hurt numbed, allowing him to finally relax.

"You were screaming in your sleep, man. What were you dreaming about?" Luffy asked him around a mouthfull of whatever he was eating.

"Just the past, kid." Zoro closed his eyes again, preparing for another nap.

"What happened in your past that was so bad?" Zoro's mind got foggy, and he was no longer in control of what he was thinking. His thoughts raced back uncontrollably to a past he didn't want to remember. What was going on? What the heck kind of medicine had Chopper left for him?! Even worse, he started to recount his past out loud. The next time he saw Chopper, he was going to kill the infernal reindeer.

"A long time ago, I left my village on a quest to fulfill a promise and become the world's greatest swordsman. I got a small boat, stocked it, and set out. About six days into my voyage, I got lost."

Luffy interrupted him with a scoff. "Go figure." He muttered. Zoro paid no attention, as he was absorbed in the story he was telling.

"I ran out of supplies, and I was starving, thirsty, and hot. I guess somewhere around the 13 day mark, I got sick. Next thing I know, I wake up on a bed in a house with some green-haired girl force-feeding me soup. She starts telling me about how she and her sister found me laying unconscious in my boat on their shore. They had dragged me back to their house and started tending to me. Almost all the way through her story, the girl's sister walked in. Shina was a lot different back then. Her hair was brown and curly, and her eyes were hazel, warm and inviting. She dressed in bright colors; her gloves varied in color to match her outfit and the leather jacket was replaced by a bright-colored hoodie. Needless to say, as they nursed me back to health I fell in love with her.

"Around those two, I was a different person. I laughed and joked with them, swam at the beach, and helped Shina cook. She fell in love with me, too. Then, one day, while Shina was out at the village, I asked Zoey why they lived alone, where their parents were. She told me their story, and I apologized for all she'd been through. We got caught up in the moment, and before I could properly react, we were kissing. Of course, with my luck, Shina decided to walk in at that moment. She got mad, went into one of her temper tantrums. Only this one was more of a rampage. Usually, me or Zoey were the ones to calm her down, but our efforts just made her madder. She started throwing things and screaming at me. Then, she kicked me out, told me she never wanted to see me again. I rented a room at the local inn for the night, to let her cool off, so I could fix things in the morning. But when I woke up, I was back in my boat, which was fully stocked, drifting off to God-knows-where." The pain in his chest started to come back, and Zoro was back in control of his mind. He realized that he had just poured his heart out to the insufferable twerp, who was just sitting there, cross-legged, his mouth hanging open. Zoro jumped up from the couch, though his ribs protested painfully, and grabbed Luffy by the collar.

"You tell ANYONE what I just told you, and so help me, I will use one sword to hold you down and the other two to gut you like a fish." The kid nodded his head frantically, and Zoro collapsed back onto the couch, his eyes closing almost immediately, his snores filling the room a second later.

**Hi! It's me; I'm back! I've tried really hard to make this story good, and I'd really love it if you guys would leave your opinions and/or suggestions. I know Zoro's story was OOC, but can we overlook that? It's important to the plot. Also, I know that there's probably no medicine that would cause that reaction, but this is fanfiction. Please, just push that review button and leave a comment! It would make me _REALLY_ happy! Thanks! =D  
**


	7. Chapter 7

The crew, minus Chopper, who, at Luffy's request, had come to tend to Zoro instead, helped clean up from Shina's outburst. The reindeer thought it very strange that Zoro refused to take the pain medicine that he was offered. Zoey tended to the three that were wounded, and gave her condolences to the family of the dead young man. After everything was taken care of, she and Skippy went to check and make sure Shina didn't start terrorizing their house. Back at Stacey's, Zoro was slipping in and out of sleep and was passed out when they arrived. He was still asleep when there was a knock at the door and Stacey answered it to find Zoey and Skippy. They all made their way to the kitchen, where Stacey and Sanji had prepared a late dinner for them. Shina appeared without any kind of smoke in the living room, where Zoro was laying on the couch, a bandage wrapped around his shirtless chest. She walked over and set her hand gently on the bandage, and he gasped slightly in his sleep. She pulled her hand away quickly and sat on the chair by the couch.

She pulled out her whittling knife, and was reaching for a block of wood when Zoro's eyes fluttered open. Zoro saw her sitting beside him holding a knife, and snapped fully awake as he jumped, only resulting in him falling off of the couch. He groaned as his contact with the floor jarred his ribs in excruciating pain. Suddenly, a warm feeling spread throughout him, though it was centered in his ribs. He opened his eyes to find that he was glowing a slightly yellow color and that Shina was knelt next to him, holding out her hand in his direction.

"Is this some sort of joke? Why are you healing me?" He asked, as the pain was erased from his ribs.

"Because, you moss-headed freak, sometimes, I feel like being nice." She stood up and headed out of the room, but said over her shoulder as she left, "You'd better be glad this was one of those times." And with that, she was gone once again in a cloud of smoke. Zoro found that he was even more exhausted than before, and he let his eyelids close, not caring that he was laying on the floor.

The others, Chopper in the lead, raced into the room upon hearing the loud crash, only to find Zoro, seemingly unconscious, laying on the floor. They got him back up onto the couch, and Skippy looked around at the group.

"Shina was here." He said. And his eyes fell on the chair next to the couch. A scrap of paper sat there, a hole burned in it and two edges singed. He picked it up, read it, and turned to the others, holding it out.

It read 'Might not be able to control myself. In the woods.' Only the natives of the island seemed to understand.

"We need to find her! Remember the last time she disappeared?" Stacey said, and she, Lucy, and Utopia shuddered.

"We could all go looking together." Lucy suggested. Everyone agreed. Skippy stopped anyone from leaving before thy got out the door.

"We need to wake Zoro up." He said, and Luffy looked at him questioningly.

"Why would we do that?" The black-haired boy asked. Zoey's eyes widened in realization.

"He would know where she went! He used to know her better than anyone!" She said, and Everyone but Skippy and Luffy looked at her in complete confusion.

"Well then wake him up." Luffy said.

"Are you crazy? Why do I have to? Zoey exclaimed.

"I'll do it. I'm not a wimp, like _some_ people." Lucy pushed past Zoey and shook Zoro's shoulder. In his half-asleep state, Zoro saw a red shirt, denim shorts, and messy dark hair,covering the person's eyes. He grabbed Lucy by the collar.

"Leave me alone, you rubber idiot." He released her and rolled over. Zoey went over and said in his ear.

"I have your swords over the fireplace, Zoro." He jumped and fell off the couch once again.

"MY SWORDS!" He screamed, scrambling to his feet. He saw Zoey, standing there, holding his swords, laughing hysterically, and snatched them away. "That was NOT funny."

Zoey stopped laughing suddenly, as if she had just remembered something. "Your ribs!" she reached out for his bandages, but he beat her to it, ripping them off.

"Where's my shirt?" He spotted it on the arm of the couch, and pulled it on. "Why'd you wake me up?" He asked irritably as he strapped on his three scabbards. He noticed everyone's dropped jaws. "What are you bozos gaping at?"

Zoey recovered first, shaking her head as if to clear it. "Shina's disappeared. She's in the woods. We were hoping you'd know where she'd be." He sighed and pushed past everyone else and out the door.

"You coming or not?"


	8. Chapter 8

Zoro led them to a very large forest that dominated half of the island lengthwise. He pushed through underbrush and ducked under branches like he knew what was going to be there. He led them across a ratty old bridge going across a wide creek and pushed over a hidden bridge made of a tree trunk to cross a canyon. He led them through the trees for what seemed like hours until they heard rapid empty thwacks. He motioned for them to go forward and stepped behind a tree. They took a step through the brush to find a small clearing with a huge tree in the middle. The tree was one of the thickest any of them had ever seen and was adorned by many cuts from a sword. The thumps were louder here, and soon they saw why. Shina, her jacket hanging on a branch, was using a sword to hack away at the bark of the old tree. She was only wearing a tank top on her torso, and her arms were exposed, showing off many ugly, puckered scars on them.

"You done staring yet?" She called, while still hitting the tree with the sword.

"Where'd THOSE come from?" Luffy asked, staring openly at her scarred arms. She stopped swinging the sword, leaving it stuck in the tree.

"Do you really want to know?" She asked. Luffy nodded his head furiously. "Well then, sit down. This may take a while." She motioned for some logs, hollowed out to be shaped like chairs. Sanji kept all the men from sitting and made sure the ladies were seated first, leaving the guys to sit on the grass. Shina pulled the sword back out of the tree and continued to beat on it with the weapon.

"It all started with a mistake. Made by our parents." She spat out the word 'parents' like it was a curse and as she said it, she hit the tree so hard, she had trouble getting the sword back out.

"Our?" Sanji asked, actually looking interested.

"Me, Zoey, and Skippy. Our parents, they messed with someone they shouldn't have. A sorceress that put a curse all three of us. Skippy, the oldest, was cursed to be raised without a family, and at the age of 6, was shipped off to some nearly uninhabited island and raised by the only other person there, an old man who died when Chris was 13."

"Chris?" It was Luffy this time, asking questions.

"Skippy's real name is Christopher. Anyway, I, who was born next, was cursed to cause pain to anyone I touched, and for all but a select few people to be deathly afraid of me. I grew up nearly alone. Zoey was cursed to have no one but a few people truly like her, the others would hate her with a passion. The curses all came with special abilities. None of us have figured out what all of our abilities are yet, but are professionals at using the ones we have. Our father disappeared days after Zoey was born, and out mother threw herself off a cliff when Zoey was three. She and I were alone growing up. Zoey had to buy food for us because everyone was afraid of me. Neither of us went to school; she would borrow books from the library, and that was how we learned. No one wanted to be around us, so we were alone. That is, untill Zoro showed up." She hit the tree with a flurry of blows as she said his name. "I was 19 and Zoey was 17. He washed up on our shore, the idiot was starving and dying of thirst. Plus, he had scurvy. We dragged him home and nursed him back to health. He was funny, always joking and laughing. Once, on Zoey's birthday, he bought her her first sword, and as a prank, pretended to stab himself through the hand with it. It was funny." Zoey scoffed, and rolled her eyes.

"Around that time, Chris showed up on the island. We didn't believe him when he desperately tried to convince us he was our brother. It was Zoro that finally figured it out, saw his power when he healed himself. A year later, Zoro disappeared off of the island. He never came back. Until now." She stuck the sword in the tree again.

"That's not true!" It was Utopia, who had been looking down throughout the entire story. "I saw. I saw you push him away in the boat. I saw you leave him, alone and wounded, in a boat, to drift away!" She looked up.

"Wounded?" Luffy said. "He was wounded?"

Zoey was standing up now, fists clenched, trembling in rage. "Yes. He had gotten into a fight the day before. Was stabbed through the stomach. We didn't know how to heal back then; thought only Skippy could do it. And he couldn't heal anyone but himself." She turned to Shina, her eyes glowing a scary red. "YOU! You kicked him off the island! You made him leave!" Her eyes were filling with tears of anger. "I thought you loved him! I... I loved him!" She turned and fled, muttering something as she ran past Zoro, something that only he heard. "I still do."


	9. Chapter 9

Zoro didn't know why he had gotten himself into this situation. When they had docked on this island, something had told him to stay on the ship. There were enough provisions for him to stay, especially by himself! But, being the idiot he is, he'd followed the others onto the island. Now, trying to keep up with Zoey as she ran through the forest, he wished he had followed his gut and stayed on the Merry. He lost her pretty quickly, but continued calling her name. He knew it was hopeless; with her power, nobody would find her until she wanted them to.

Zoro, even knowing that finding Zoey was a lost cause, continued to wander around, occasionally calling out her name. Suddenly, just as he called for her for the umpteenth time, he was tackled to the ground, his bandana pulled off of his arm and used to cover his eyes. A pair of lips descended on his, and it was if a collection of oil in the pit of his stomach was lit. A raging fire warmed his insides as he started to kiss back. The lips were pulled away all too soon, and fast footsteps faded away before he could pull the bandana off of his eyes.

* * *

Shina turned around, very calm expression on her face. The Straw Hats thought this would be a good thing, but Stacey, Skippy, Utopia, and Lucy backed away. Shina's cold, empty eyes locked on Utopia. "You. You made her cry." The empty blackness of Shina's eyes flashed red, and Utopia yelled in pain. Shina shot at her, but Usopp beat her to it, jumping in front of the cowering girl just as Shina's hands shot out and wrapped themselves around his neck. He cried out in pain, and Skippy quickly donned a pair of leather gloves, and pried Shina's hands off of his throat.

"Shina! YOU'RE the one that made her cry!" He yelled. She threw him off, into the tree, and let go of Usopp, who was gasping for air, and disappeared in a cloud of red smoke. He crumpled to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. He could hardly breathe, and drawing in air was getting harder.

Usopp felt a dark presence in his mind, and, thinking it was death, coming to claim him, he pushed it away. "Stop, you idiot! I'm trying to heal you!" Skippy's voice sounded in his mind. The immense burning sensation in his neck that was keeping him from breathing subsided, and he suddenly felt exhausted. He let his eyes close, and let the welcome embrace of dreamless sleep take over him.

**I know this chapter was really short, but I posted two chapters in one day so I think it's acceptable. Please review! Thanks for reading! =D**


	10. Chapter 10

Zoro gave up looking for Zoey as the moon hung directly above his head, though he could barely see it through the leaves above him. He plopped down on a dead log and allowed himself to process the last few hours.

The kiss. He was pretty sure he knew who would tackle him and cover his eyes, just to give him the best kiss he'd ever recieved (though he hadn't really had that many to begin with). He'd need to find her first; before he could confirm hs suspicions.

Utopia's revelation. So Shina had been the one to stick him in a boat to float away to God-knows-where. He'd thought he'd slept-walked to his boat, though he didn't have an explanation for why it was stocked with supplies. He had been sure he was going to die, sitting in the sweltering heat, a major injury hardly allowing movement. Thank God he'd landed on another island before his provisions ran out. His thoughts were interrupted by a very loud voice shouting in his ear, "Zoro! You're back! I've missed our talks, man!" Zoro just chuckled and shook his head. He had learned a long time ago that there were very few things on this island that made sense.

"Hey Gorou. If I remember correctly, you were the one who did most of the talking." The ghost scoffed, rolling his glowing blue eyes. He pushed his opaque brown hair out of his face before replying,

"So? You always listened."

"I never had a choice! You followed me around, you idiot." The ghost laughed, a high-pitched, annoying laugh that reminded Zoro of Luffy. He sat on the ground, leaning against the dead log.

"Were you and Zoey having another race? Because I think she won for once. She's already at your guys' creek." Gorou said. Zoro's eyes widened slightly as he looked down at the ghost.

"She's at the creek?" He asked. The high-strung spirit nodded his head and Zoro shot up from his seat on the log so fast, his foot passed through Gorou's head as he jumped over it.

"Hey! I can still feel that, you know!" Zoro ignored him, taking off in the other direction.

"Bye Gorou!" Zoro called over his The ghost stood up and turned to face him.

"What, no thank-you?" He called at the retreating back. Zoro just laughed as he walked away.

* * *

The group, Sanji carrying Usopp on his back and Luffy supporting Skippy, headed back to Stacey's house to let the two men rest. As they approached, Lucy, who was in the lead, shouted,

"What the heck?!" The others hurried to the scene, Sanji and Luffy going as fast as they could. When they were all there, they looked at the ruins of what once was Stacey's house. The only thing left semi-standing was the kitchen. Stacey stared at the remains of the house for just a few seconds before finding a big chunk of stone to kick, busting it into hundreds of tiny pieces with her high heel.

"Marry me?" Sanji asked. You could practically see the Cupids circling his head as he stared at the tiny pieces scattered across the ground, then back up at Stacey. She just ignored him, as she had all the other times he had tried to flirt with her.

"Whoa..." Luffy surveyed the damage, blue eyes sweeping back and forth.

"If she did this... to the house... you... might want to-to check on... your ship..." Skippy gasped from Luffy's side. They stared disbelievingly at him; just a minute ago, he was so weak he could barely hold his eyes open. They didn't know why, but they had their suspicions that Shina had done something to him when she threw him into the tree. Then, they realized what he'd said.

"Our ship?"

"What do you mean by 'she'?" Nami and Sanji said at the same time. Skippy raised his hand with some difficulty and indicated the charred and slashed bits of wood and, finally, the wood fragment standing up in a pile of rubble, tied to it, a black bandana with a red 'S' on it.

"Shina." He whispered, his hand falling to his side as he went limp, almost falling from Luffy's grasp. Nami immediately turned and ran toward their ship, everyone at her heels. They arrived at where their ship, or what used to be their ship, was moored.

The ship now more closely resembled a floating carcass. They were surprised it still _could _float. It was in shambles, wood fragments everywhere. The only things left intact were the hull, Luffy's "special seat", Nami's maps, which were in neat stacks on the ground, held down by the bags of Belis and treasure that surrounded them, and Choppers medicines and various other medical supplies, which also lay in neat piles on the ground.

"D**n it!" Luffy yelled, nearly dropping the half-conscious Skippy in his rage as he gazed at the mess that had once been their pirate ship.

"MY KITCHEN!" Sanji screamed, and he actually DID drop Usopp. "SHE DESTROYED MY KITCHEN!" Nami gave him a death glare and punched him in the head.

"SHE DESTROYED THE ENTIRE SHIP, YOU MORON!"


	11. Chapter 11

"You know, You're really hard to find these days." Zoro stepped out from behind a tree, and into the small clearing that "their" creek ran through. Zoey's head whipped around, and Zoro anticipated what she was going to do. He jumped to grab her arm just as she vanished, or, tried to, anyway.

Zoro was stunned that he could still see her. "What's going on?" Zoey's eyes widened. "You... you IDIOT! Why-why would you touch it as I disappeared?! Now, you can.." She paused for a second, as if she couldn't believe what he'd done. Zoro just stood there, dumbfounded, staring down at her 'birthmark' on her arm, which he knew was the mark of her curse. He had the palm of his hand positioned directly over the small mark. "You can do it, too."

"I can do what?" Zoro asked. Zoey just stared unbelievingly at him. "You slow, clueless idiot! You can turn invisible! Disappear! Vanish! Do you NEED me to draw you a picture!?"

"This is great!" He said, fading in and out of visibility. After a few times of doing this in rapid succession, he got dizzy and fatigued. He stumbled and nearly fell.

"You can't do that, dummy! You'll use too much energy!" Zoey yelled at him.

"D**n it!" They heard a shout. "Luffy..." Zoro said, and, forgetting to even make himself visible again, started running, Zoey at his heels.

They had only been running for a few seconds when there was another shout. "MY KITCHEN!" Zoro just rolled his eyes.

"Idiot cook."

Zoey in the lead, they ran for where the ship was moored. Forgetting that he was invisible, Zoro crept along stealthily. They finally were able to see the scene. The ship was in shambles. Luffy was standing with Skippy's arm slung over his shoulder, trembling in rage as he looked at the wreck that used to be their ship. Sanji was also quaking in pure anger. Nami wasn't shaking, though she looked angry. Usopp was laying on the ground, oblivious to the entire situation. Chopper was just staring up at the ship, eyes wide. Zoro looked at the scene from his hiding place behind a building and started to leave to walk to the others, when Zoey pulled him back and pointed at the forming cloud of red and black smoke. It started to take on a shape that resembled a human.

The others were too absorbed in looking at the mass of wood scraps that was formerly their grand pirate vessel to notice the human-shaped fog, which suddenly solidified, leaving Shina standing in its place. She leaned against a building closer to the rest of the group than the one they were hiding behind, and cleared her throat loudly. The Straw Hats spun around quickly, Luffy dropping Skippy. Stacey grabbed him and Lucy grabbed Usopp and they dragged the two unconscious men to the side, into a small alley. They stayed there, too. The group of pirates, or, what was left of it, hardly noticed the fact that Shina's eyes were glowing a dangerous shade of red.

"YOU! You destroyed our ship!" Luffy yelled. He bent his knees slightly, and put his hand on his shoulder. "GUM GUM PISTOL!" His fist shot out, but just passed through her chest where it would have hit, as she came closer. She didn't seem to notice as she scanned the small group.

"Where's Moss-head?" She asked, and Zoro tensed from his hiding place. "Why isn't he here?!" She seemed mad, as if this was all a plan to lure him here. Here body glowed a bright and brief red, confirming Zoro's suspicions that she was furious.

"We don't know! Why do you care, anyway?" You could almost see the flames in Luffy's usually calm blue eyes.

Shina seemed to calm down a bit. "Oh, just wondering. I was hoping this would get him to come here, too, but I guess I'll have to use another tactic." She smiled sadistically. Suddenly, Luffy and Nami were both restrained by steel chains. They fell to the ground, unable to balance with their legs tied together. Just as suddenly, she was standing behind Sanji. There was no smoke or anything this time, she just disappeared and re-appeared behind him. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. He gasped in pain, unable to move.

"Zoro! You'd better come here, to your ship, or I'll rip your stupid little cook's arm off!" She didn't speak loudly, but, somehow, her words reverberated throughout the entire island. She yanked Sanji's arm hard, and he yelled in pain, as if to punctuate her sentence. She waited, but he didn't come, so she yanked his arm again. This time, there was an audible crack as Sanji yelled. Zoro stepped out from behind the building, but nobody seemed to notice. His brow furrowed, then he remembered: he was invisible.

He ran and pried Shina's unexpecting gloved hands off of Sanji, who fell to his knees, holding his arm. Chopper just stood there, a reindeer-in-the-headlights look on his face. Zoro made himself visible again.

"You could've just asked nicely." He said, dropping her hand. She glowed a brief red again, and Zoro ducked as she swung at him. She threw another punch, and he dodged again. Suddenly, a sword materialized in her hands and she started jabbing and slashing at the green-haired swordsman. He didn't even have time to draw his own swords; her attacks were executed at near super-human speed. He dodged most of her attacks, though she did manage to nick his side and leave a cut on his cheek. Just as she succeeded in giving him another cut on the upper arm, she stopped cold.

"Shut up, Skippy!" She roared. Zoro looked around. Skippy was laying in the alley, not moving except for the rise and fall of his chest. He hadn't said anything. "You-you can't say that, you incompetent b****rd!"

'She's gone insane...' Zoro thought.

"I am not! You shut the h**l up! AARG!" There was a cloud of yellow smoke as she disappeared.

"She-she's left the island." They heard Skippy's voice from the alley. He pushed himself up to sit against the wall with a grunt. Zoey walked over and whispered in his ear. He nodded, seemingly agreeing to whatever she'd said. She picked him up and slung his arm around her shoulder. Then she walked him out of the alleyway and over to the group.

"We'd like to invite you to stay with us while your house and ship are being repaired." She said. Stacey stepped forward.

"What makes you think I want to stay with..." She looked Zoey up and down. "Whatever you are?"

Zoey scoffed. "What makes _you _think you're invited?" She snapped back. Skippy hit her upside the head with the hand around her shoulders.

"I'm inviting you, Stacey."

"Oh Skippy! You're so sweet! Let _me_ help you!" She moved to take his arm, and he shook his head.

"N-no thanks." His gaze traveled from her shocked face to Sanji, who was still holding his arm, though he was sitting, now. "W-what's wrong with you?" He asked.

"My arm's broken, what the h**l's it look like, idiot?" Sanji ground out through gritted teeth.

"There's no need to be rude. I thought you were a gentleman." Zoey said. Zoro chuckled in the background and Sanji gave him a death glare. Zoey's attention was then turned to Zoro. He started to glow yellow as his minimal wounds closed up.

"Why don't you heal me? This hurts like h**l." Sanji asked.

"I can only heal flesh wounds. Skippy could do it, but I don't think-"

"I-I'm... tired..." Skippy interrupted, before going limp in Zoey's grasp. Zoro immediately grabbed his other arm and placed it over his shoulders.

"What's WRONG with him?" Nami, who Zoro had already cut out of her chains (along with Luffy), asked.

Zoey looked up."Shina drained his energy. Then he healed Usopp, and then he drove Shina out of here. He's been running on a negative amount of energy for a while now, and It finally took effect on his body."

Chopper put a splint and sling on Sanji's arm, after being told not to use a cast, as Skippy could heal it when he woke up.

They walked up to Zoey and Skippy's house. It was good sized; two stories. As they came to the front door, Zoro immediately kicked off his boots.

"Aah. You remembered." Zoey said.

"Yeah. I remember that if Skippy gets a speck of dirt on his precious floor, all h**l breaks loose." Zoey laughed as the others took off their shoes, as well. Usopp and Skippy's boots were yanked off the unconscious men's feet.

They walked into the house, only to see Shina, standing at the end of the entryway.

"May I show you to your rooms?"

**Wow! This is definately my longest chapter yet! 1,551 words! Please leave your opinions and/or suggestions in the reviews! I really want to know what you think! =D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here I am, back from the land of procrastination! Sorry it's been so long. I was plagued with this horrible disease called writer's block. This is really short and I'm sorry, but I'm working on the next chapter right now. I hope you enjoy! And PLEASE write reviews! I need to know what you think!**

"What the heck are you doing in my house, Shina?" Zoey asked, stepping forward after transferring all of Skippy's weight onto Zoro.

"Oh, I just stopped by to pay my favorite marimo a visit." Her eyes fell on Zoro, and he visibly tensed. She walked up to him, and Skippy disappeared from his side and reappeared, leaning on Stacey, who blushed a deep red. Shina stood in front of Zoro, and nobody noticed that her leather gloves disappeared. She brought up her finger, tracing from the bottom of his left ear to the right side of his collar bone. A red and irritated-looking line followed her finger, and Zoro made a subtle sound of pain in the back of his throat. "You know, using Zoey's power was impressive. I only have one problem with that." Her finger was now tracing designs across his collar bone, and they actually showed up as red, irritated marks. "You took it." Zoro was just standing statue-still, fists clenched. He wasn't moving at all. In fact, as the group looked closer, they saw that his chest wasn't moving either. He wasn't breathing. His lips started to turn blue, and he was desperately trying to pull in breath.

"STOP IT! You're gonna kill him!" Zoey yelled. Shina looked over to her. Zoro, whose face was beginning to turn purple, fell to his hands and knees, coughing and sputtering for breath.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill him." She smiled sadistically. "Yet." And with that, she was gone. No smoke; she just vanished.

"What was that all about?" Sanji asked from the front of the group. Zoro collapsed from his position on all fours, and Zoey knelt next to him.

"Shina, she's very, uh, _serious_ about our powers. She thinks that they were given to us from the sorceress a counter against our curses. She believes that we are the only ones who should use them, because we're the only ones to suffer our curses." Zoey explained. "That's why she was so mad that Zoro accidentally obtained one of my main powers." She hoisted Zoro up, but stumbled as his full weight was put on her shoulders. Sanji stepped forward and took Zoro's other arm and put it around his un-injured shoulder. "Just put Usopp on the couch in there. Stacey, Skippy's room is the first to the left of he top of the stairs." Zoey and Sanji headed up the stairs, dragging the newly unconscious Zoro between them.

"Let me guess... She drained his energy, too?" Zoey nodded as they hefted him up another step. "She does it when she has skin-on-skin contact with someone. I don't know if she does it on purpose or not, but it happens, anyway." They eventually made it up the stairs, and down a hallway. Two doors down on the left was a door that had yellow tape crisscrossed down it. The tape read: 'CAUTION: ENTER AND DIE'. Zoey pushed open the door and lead Sanji into the black and green room and they plopped Zoro down on the bed. Sanji looked around the room, to find that it was completely trashed. There was a hole in one of the walls, broken glass on the floor, and an un-sheathed sword stuck about three inches into the white carpet, its sheath lying across the room.

"What the h**l happened in here?" Sanji asked, noting the blood on one of the shards of glass.

"Uh, nothing. Let's just grab you and Luffy some blankets. You're going to have to sleep in the living room." Zoey said, leading him out of the room and shutting the door. Zoey stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, extending her arm to stop Sanji, hitting him square in the sling. Her eyes were wide and the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. She ignored the hiss of pain that escaped his lips and stood up straighter. "Crap. She's back."


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm sooooooo sorry that this was late. But, its 1,046 word count will make up for that. If not, I'm very sorry. School starting back up kind of knocked my schedule out of whack, but I'm starting the next chapter as soon as I post this. Enjoy! And PLEASE review. Reviews make me happier than candy. And I REALLY like candy. =D**

_Standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean were three figures; a grown woman and two little girls. The girls looked to be around 3 and 6 years old. The younger one had short and frizzled green hair, and looked scared as she hid behind the older girl. The older one, who had brown hair in loose curls and a bandage around her head and bandages completely covering both arms and wrapped to cover even her hands and fingers, was sanding defiantly, looking at the woman. They were both so skinny; it was surprising that the wind didn't knock them over. "You disgraces! You filthy demons!" The woman yelled, looking accusingly at the two children. "But Mother, you did this to us!" The older of the two girls exclaimed. The woman looked absolutely terrified. "Don't you dare call me that, you poisonous little monster! You are no child of mine!" The younger girl came out from behind the older, her eyes teary. "But Mommy!" She yelled, reaching out for the woman, who backed away. The woman stopped as she reached the edge, and looked behind herself. She turned back around to face the kids, a look of finality on her face. She spread her arms out, falling backwards into the crashing waves below. The older girl held onto the younger as she tried to look over the edge of the cliff, and pulled her back. "She's gone, Zoey. She fell"_

Shina didn't remember why they'd been on the cliff, or what happened after their mother fell, but that memory would be burned into her mind until the day she died. She sat by Zoro's bed, thinking of the day her life had changed forever. People had accused her and Zoey of pushing their mother off of the cliff, and they were branded local criminals. Older kids chased them, throwing things and yelling names. They were always running, having to rely on the forest on the island for food and shelter.

Finally, when Zoey was 5, Shina decided it was time to remove her little sister from the misery they were going through. She collected as much supplies as she could, found a boat, and took off. Luckily, they had reached Songbird Island before their supplies ran out. They found out quickly that everyone on the island had a seemingly natural irrational fear of Shina, even as an 8-year-old, and Zoey had to get a job carrying letters to get them money for food. Eventually, after they saved half of all of the money that Zoey earned doing various jobs as she got older, they were able to buy their house. Zoey was 12, and she was 14.

Three years later, they had found Zoro washed up on the beach, starving, dying of thirst, and suffering from scurvy. They had dragged the fifteen-year-old back to their house, and the whole stupid adventure had begun.

There were hurried footsteps outside the door, and the doorknob rattled. She quickly pressed the little wooden wolf she had been whittling into Zoro's palm and curled his fingers around it before disappearing.

Zoey turned around and immediately started back for Zoro's room. Skippy burst out of his room, shirtless and still wearing his jeans from earlier. "Zoey! I-I felt Shina! Is she here?" Zoey threw open the door to Zoro's room, and observed that the snoring man was still safe in his bed. She also saw that the hole in the wall was gone, and so was the broken glass. The sword and sheath had disappeared, too. "Not anymore." She sighed to Skippy, and he seemed to relax.

Skippy noticed Sanji standing, dumbfounded, in the hallway. "Oh, yeah. Here," Sanji felt a new presence in his mind, and tensed. 'Relax, it's just me. I'm trying to heal you.' Skippy's voice echoed in his subconscious. The pain in his arm melted away, and he felt kind of tired. "You can take the sling off now." Skippy said out loud, and Sanji complied, wondering what in h**l had just happened.

Zoey shut Zoro's door and headed for a closet in the hallway. She pulled open the door and extracted some blankets and two pillows. "These are for you and Luffy." She said, shoving them into Sanji's arms and sending him down the stairs. She followed, telling Nami and Chopper where their rooms were, and sending Stacey, Lucy, and Utopia to their room, too. Usopp, Sanji, and Luffy were sleeping in the living room.

* * *

It was pitch dark, and Zoro was exhausted. So, why the h*ll was he awake? Then, full awareness hit him. Why in the world was it so d*mn cold? Wait a second… oh, God no. He knew this cold. Despite the fact he felt as if he hadn't slept in days, he jumped out of his bed. Hardly noticing that he was in his old room, he flung the door open. The light in the hallway assaulted his eyes suddenly, so he blinked a few times while his eyes adjusted. Both Zoey and Skippy's doors were open, along with the two guest room doors. He thundered down the stairs and out the open front door. He quickly discovered that the cause of the darkness was not that it was late.

'Again?' Zoro thought in disbelief as he looked at the dark clouds swirling around in the mid-afternoon sky. The swirling clouds seemed to react to his presence, as did the small crowd of people looking up at it. The people all looked back at him, and Shina appeared a few feet in front of him. The clouds descended from the sky, filling into a human shape as if being poured into a mold. The human shape stood only about two yards in front of Shina. Finally, as the head of the all-black demonic creature finished forming, it flashed a sadistic smile that reached its solid blood-red eyes at the two people stand in front of it. In a creepily deep voice that was neither male nor female it uttered words that sent shivers down the spine of every person there.

"Remember me?"


	14. Chapter 14

Zoey and Skippy ran to stand on either side of the speechless Zoro. The beast seemed to recoil when Skippy entered its field of vision. Skippy looked satisfied with the monster's reaction.

"Remember _me_?" The man asked cockily, a grin splitting his usually business-like face. He looked tired, exhausted even, but seemed confident in front of the creepy beast. The beast just let out an unearthly sounding growl and held out its hand, palm facing Skippy. A glob of it broke off of the hand, flying toward Skippy. But, it just passed through him, burning a hole in the porch rail behind him. Ripples fanned out from the now-closing hole in the center of his chest, like what happened when you dropped something in water.

"I guess not, because you seem to have forgotten that that doesn't work on me." Skippy thrust his hand toward the monster, sharp ice daggers flying from his hand. The Straw Hats (except for Zoro) stared on in shock. What the h*ll situation had they gotten themselves into?! The frozen projectiles stabbed the monster, who let out an un-humanly cry that pierced their eardrums like knives shoved in their ears. The black demon retracted into the sky, but with a promise.

"Next time, Christopher, you won't be so lucky. I'll kill every one of you Cursed Three, and the Green-haired man, too, for good measure!" It seemed to be sucked into a hole in the sky, and was gone.

"What the h*ll was THAT?" Sanji yelled. D*mn. He should really make that his catch phrase. He'd said it enough while on this island.

"Duh, Sanji. It was a mystery monster!" Luffy yelled, high-fiving an enthusiastically agreeing Lucy.

"It was the spirit of the sorceress that cursed Shina, Zoey, and I. She was banished to H*ll for that, among other things, but was summoned again by her great-great grandson. Some of the spirit resides in him, so the spirit can't be re-banished unless he is killed or the spirit forced to leave his body. It poses a great problem in the fact that the spirit also can't be completely defeated with the other part residing in his body. We mortally wounded it before Zoro left, but, apparently, it's healed, and back to exact its revenge." Skippy replied to Sanji, his calm, business-like aura back.

"But… Why'd it want Zoro?" Chopper asked.

"The Algae-head was the one that wounded it so mortally. Right before he got stabbed by the great-grandson. He used Zoey's sword, Umi Bureido." Skippy explained yet again. "It's got a stone in the hilt that has a powerful magic in it. It allows it to summon water. She stole it, along with her other sword, Kaen, from the sorceress herself."

"What did you call me, Icicle?" Zoro looked a little annoyed, much like when Sanji called him a name.

"Just an algae-brained idiot." Skippy said, another cocky grin splitting his features, despite the demon incident just seconds before. Zoro lunged toward him with his swords, very similar to the beginning of a fight with a certain curly-browed cook. Skippy simply swept his arm upwards, a wall of ice blocking Zoro's attack, though it crumbled as he hit it.

While Zoro and Skippy fought, very much like how he and Sanji did, though Skippy blocked the swords with frozen shapes and rock-hard icy arms rather than with his feet, Luffy begged to see Zoey's 'mystery magical swords'. Zoey sighed as Lucy and Chopper joined in on the begging, and drew the blades attached to either hip. The one with the blue leather-wrapped hilt, Umi Bureido, shimmered like a pool of water, and waves appeared under the surface of the blade as Zoey swung it. The one with the orangish-red leather-wrapped hilt, Kaen, Promptly burst into flames upon fully exiting its scabbard.

Behind them, Skippy successfully trapped the swords Zoro had in his hands with ice, ripping them from his grip before swinging his foot up to kick Wadō out of the Moss-head's mouth. The swords clattered to the ground.

"D*mn, Icicle. You got strong." Zoro said.

"Maybe you just got weak." Skippy replied, the humorous grin returning to his face. Zoro swung at him, his fist passing through the other man's shoulder, ripples fanning out around his arm.

"I told you to stop doing that to me! It's creepy." Zoro exclaimed, quickly extracting his fist from the other man's body. Both exhausted-looking men were laughing.

"I'm gonna go take a nap." They said in almost complete unison, before trudging toward the house. It was like the terrifying demon hadn't even _been _there. Zoro picked up his swords as he walked, returning them to their sheaths. They passed by a statue-still Shina , and having their shadows pass over her seemed to break whatever spell she was under. She disappeared in a cloud of smoke, colored a depressing-looking shade of gray.

"What in h*ll was that ice-spike thing, and the stuff passing through Skippy's body?" Stacey asked, directing her question at Zoey. The green-haired girl was busy showing off her swordplay for the wonder-struck Luffy, Lucy, and Chopper, and the love-struck Sanji. "He's got power over water. It's his element. Mine's air and earth, Shina's is fire." She replied disconcertedly. Zoro and Skippy were almost in the house when a shout was heard from the path leading to the front door.

"Zoey, Chris! The marines are at the beach, firing at that ship you asked me to repair!" It was the Zippy guy, and he was running towards them with incredible speed. The tools hanging from his belt swayed as he sprinted, and swung precariously as he skidded to a stop. Everyone in the Straw Hats, plus Skippy and Zoey, froze on the spot.

"WHAT?!" That was the yell from the entire Straw Hat crew. Why couldn't they seem to catch a break? This island apparently _channeled _bad luck. Zoey ran to Zoro and Skippy, placing a hand on each of their chests. They both glowed a brief and blinding yellow, and suddenly looked fully rested.

"Thank the trees for lending you their energy." She said to them, grinning a grin that looked very similar to Skippy's. "Now, let's go kick some a*s." She turned and started running.

Zoro followed close behind her. "That catch phrase was creepy enough when you _didn't _have magic swords!" He yelled after her. Skippy was on his tail, running behind him, but obviously able to run faster than him. The rest of the Straw Hats ran behind them, and they arrived at the beach not long after to discover that the marine ship off the coast was indeed firing cannonballs at the Merry.

"MERRY!" Usopp screamed as a cannonball smashed into the half-finished deck.

"HEY! I just finished that section!" Zippy yelled.

"Shut up, Zippy! We have bigger problems!" Shina, who had appeared out of nowhere, shouted. She pointed toward the ship that was currently getting closer to the beach. At seeing Shina appear, Usopp screamed and ran to the other side of the group.

Zoro and Zoey both had their hands on the hilts of their swords, Nami was holding her Clima-tact, Usopp was clutching his sling-shot, and Sanji was lighting the cigarette held firmly between his lips.

Marines started dropping from the ship in large rowboats, rowing with abnormal speed and landing on the beach. "Oi! Straw Hats! Surrender!" One yelled at them as they clambered from the boats.

"Not a chance." Luffy said, smiling like an idiot.

"Suit yourselves! Prepare to be obliterated!" The same overly cocky marine yelled. As if to punctuate his sentence, another cannon ball slammed into the work-in-progress that was the Merry's deck. Zoey seemed to get fed up, and swept her hand in the direction of the half-finished ship. The next cannon ball that was fired at the ship seemed to turn around in midair, or, rather, to bounce off of the air itself. It hurtled back at the enemy ship, overturning a boatload of Marines coming to fight.

She smiled as the marines on the large ship and the beach gasped in surprise and shock. The marines turned back to the group of ready-to-fight warriors. Zoro placed Wado carefully in his mouth, then surged forward, using his 'Oni Giri' attack to defeat six marines at once. Sanji swung his leg around, using the momentum to swing onto his hands and cave in the skulls of a large group of enemies. Luffy just punched haphazardly, taking out marines at random intervals. The three fought alone for a few seconds, before the rest seemed to ready themselves. Chopper chomped down on a pill with a mutter of "Rumble". Zoey unsheathed her swords, the marines she were facing jumping back in fright as one burst into orange flames. Skippy let bullets pass right through him, fighting with surprising malice with a sword formed completely from ice. He looked absolutely murderous swinging the icy blade. Surprisingly, Shina was fighting, too. She swept her arm, setting three marines ablaze.

She winced as they cried out in agony, and with a clench of her fist, the fire glowed white-hot, reducing even their bones to ash.

Usopp shot 'Exploding stars' at oncoming rowboats, though he couldn't stop the steady stream of marines that flowed onto the beach. It was like a hydra effect. Kill a marine, and two take his place. They fought and fought, until Shina let out a nearly inhuman war cry. A large group of marines burst into flames, and the fire spread through the ranks, aided by the wind that seemed to be blowing from behind Zoey, though none of the others felt so much as a breeze. Skippy, Zoey, and Shina stood in a triangle, all back-to-back with each other. They looked absolutely formidable, Zoey holding a flaming sword and one made of water, Shina with her arms completely immersed in flames, and Skippy baring his frozen broadsword.

Skippy swung his sword in a large arc, and a large percentage of the remaining marines stopped dead in their tracks, frozen solid. A raging fire followed the ice, burning the frozen people to ashes. The few remaining marines fled in terror, not wanting to be reduced to smoldering ashes. They piled into the only rowboat that hadn't been burned to a crisp, nearly trampling each other in their haste. Skippy looked over his shoulder at the retreating marines, seemingly considering turning the boat over. He seemed to decide against it, and the broadsword melted away, the murderous glint in his eyes fading as the sword disappeared.

Suddenly, everything went silent. Not even the crackling of the fire that still encased Shina's arms or the sound of the ocean behind them could be heard. An eerie shadow cast itself over the beach, and everyone turned their heads slowly to the sky. A pitch-colored cloud swirled in the sky above them, ominous and threatening.

It was like a scene from their worst nightmares; the cloud crawled from the sky, shaping itself into something vaguely human. Last to appear were two blood red eyes, eyes that looked to be able to cut through steel with a glance. the demonic-looking creature swept its eyes over the group, something they could only discern by the feel of its murderous gaze. For the second time that day, the thing's gaze settled on Zoro.

"Tsk, Tsk." It said, as if scolding a group of small children. "Some people never learn."

**O.M.G. 1,985 words. This chapter has 1,985 words. Holy crap!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Oh my gosh. It has been SUCH a long time since I updated! I am SO sorry! And, compared to the last chapter, this one's dreadfully short. But, I'm going to start with the next chapter ASAP. In the meantime... ENJOY! =D**

"And leading the cursed three here, too? Are you looking to sign some death certificates?" Zoro looked around, eyes narrowed. They widened, however, when they landed on the mostly concealed cave in the cliff off to the left.

"D*mn it." He cursed, a memory of walking down this stretch of beach and being attacked by the demon filling his head. The cave held its life-source, and it was stronger here. The demonic monster laughed a sadistic laugh that sent shivers down everyone's spine.

"Exactly, Zoro. Very interesting that when Nathan over there came to fix the ship, it was docked here, no?" It motioned to Zippy, who raised his hands in a surrender pose.

"Hey, I thought you guys moved it! I didn't know a creepy black monster-thing lived here!" He defended himself.

"If you moved the Merry, how can you blame me for leading everybody here?" Zoro asked, arms crossed. The demon seemed to falter, then held its hand out to Zoro and clenched its fist. Zoro gasped in pain and gritted his teeth.

"Getting smart, are we? Funny, Takeo told me that you were 'Moss-brained'." The demon unclenched its fist.

"That cheating little twerp? Who knows if what he says is true?" Zoro growled. The monster clenched its fist again, and Zoro yelped. His fists and jaw clenched, and it was clear he was fighting the urge to cry out. The demon released its fist, and Zoro fell to his knees, coughing up blood.

"Insolent boy." The demon spat.

"I'm insolent?" Zoro asked, rising shakily to his feet, his teeth stained pink. "You're the one who flows around killing people. Talk about lack of respect."

The demon's eyes glinted maliciously. "Are you going to be able to pull yourself out of that hole you're digging?" It questioned.

Zoro gave it a grin, his blood-stained teeth showing. "Probably not. But, that's my problem, is it not?"

The demon returned his grin, though its was sadistic and scary. "That is true." It stared straight at him as he coughed up blood again. "But, you've already made me angry."

Black clouds swirled above Zoro's head.

Both Zoey and Shina tried to run and push him out of the way, but were held back by some invisible force.

A bolt of blinding white lightning shot from the cloud and struck the still-smirking man where he stood.

Zoro yelled, his green hair standing on end as light flashed. There were simultaneous cries of "ZORO!" as the lightning stopped and Zoro crumpled, wisps of smoke floating from his mouth.

Shina and Zoey rushed to the fallen man, as he glowed yellow. They knelt by his side as the burned sections of his flesh healed. Shina stood up suddenly, turning quickly to the demon, flames in her eyes. No, literally.

"What did you do to him?!" She demanded loudly.

The demon smirked. "Oh, calm yourself. He's going to live." It sneered.

From beside Zoro, Zoey gasped. "It cursed him." She said quietly. Shina glanced surprisedly down to where Zoey was examining the unconscious man's forearm.

Then, her gaze migrated slowly back up to the chuckling monster. "I see." She muttered. "Zoey, hand me your sword." Zoey complied, handing Umi Bureido up to Shina. Shina's forearms burst suddenly into flames as she stood, gripping the sword.

Suddenly, she was right in front of the demon. "That," She swung the sword, cleaving the monster in half. "Was NOT an intelligent choice."

The monster melted – quite literally – into the sand in great black drops. When the last of it had seeped into the bits of worn-down rock, all was silent.

A beat.

The black monster suddenly sprang from underground, spraying sand everywhere. It now bore a twisted smile that would have a normal man fleeing in terror (Usopp _tried _to flee, but Sanji caught him by one of the straps of his overalls).

"Getting mad are we?" It taunted. "Have I struck a nerve?" Its sadistic, twisted, evil grin got wider. "Well, then. I guess this is going to come as a real shock."

It surged forward, swirling around Shina, making strange, flowing patterns in the air as it swirled in a twelve-inch radius of her. A haunting, evil voice began to chant in a language strange to most of them. It had a melodic quality, though it sounded dark, disturbing, and evil. It was strangely riveting. They couldn't stop listening to the long, drawn-out syllables of the words.

And it swirled into the sand once again, and was gone.

**I love reviews as much as Luffy loves meat (if that's even possible)! So, review? PRETTY PLEASE?! It's really easy! Just move your cursor over that button... Yeah! Right there! Now press that right mouse button! You got it! Now, just type up a nice little review about what you thought of this chapter and/or ideas for the next one. There you go! You did it! THANK YOU!**


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